Are Custom profiles really necessary?

I just had the pleasure of listening to, meeting and speaking with the Photoshop guru and author, Barry Haynes, at our latest Pacific Northwest Color Management Users Group gathering (co-sponsored by our local ASMP chapter). You may remember him from his Photoshop Artistry book series. All in all it was a rewarding evening. Even though I consider myself to be quite accomplished in Photoshop, I found myself listening and takng notes intently: picking up new takes on existing techniques left and right. As a dedcated proponent of ICC Profiles and profiling, I was challenged by his assertion that he feels that, because of the improvement in printer technologies and much better ink and paper quality controls, that the "canned" profiles that come with modern inkjet printers more than adequately do the job. Then he proceeded to show how he uses Photoshop to "correct" one printer's output to match another. This would seem to belie what he had just proposed! That's the purpose of profiling - to optimize the printer so that data is portrayed as similarly as possible on any output device. I realize that certain provided profiles are excellent (ie Bill Atkinson's Profesional Epson profiles), but many printers are simoly not consistant enough to have an accurate generic profile.
So my questions are thus:
1) Have you had good luck with canned profiles, if so on what machines?
2) If you are using custom profiles, are you doing them yourselves or using a service like Chromix?
3) Are you using profiles with consumer printers like the small Epson desktop models, and are they working to your satisfaction?
Thanks!

 

I suspect the current pigment printers from Epson and now Canon where the pigment ink is largely sitting on top of the surface are a lot less affected by paper types than their dye-based predecessors from a few years ago.

 

Besides having my own printing company, I am also a professional photographer. I currently use the Epson R200 printer, which I use on location doing event photography where I sell prints to the contestants. With this printer I use the Epson drivers which I am told by Epson, come with a standard profile built in. I was also told it can't be changed. I have tried using ICC profiles with a program called ACDSee Pro (photo management software), and the profiles I have tried to use give poor results. In the printer driver settings there is a color management box with 3 choices, Color Controls, PhotoEnhance, and ICM. The first two are similar in that you can adust the color to your liking. The third ICM has a check box that says "No Color Adjustment". When ever I use this check or not checked the color is nothing like what it should be just a ruined print. My best results with this printer come with Color Controls checked and Color Mode Epson Vivid and all other settings set to 0. It comes very close to matching what is on my screen, but not perfectly. But the prints are very good quality photos for my customers. I use Kodak brand paper for the best results. I have used both Epson and aftermarket ink cartridges with no noticeable difference in quality. I would very much like to know if there is a way to apply ICC custom profiles to this printer as I want it calibrated to my monitors for when I do have critical color work.

John

 

No, custom profiles are a huge waste of time, money, and effort. Profiles like ISO uncoated & coated, Gracol, SWOP, etc are all made to be used by end users. Use the professionals profiles because very few people out there really have enough understanding to give you a worthwhile custom profile.

 

Every one trys so hard these days to save money on cartridges, paper etc. I hope everyone realizes using an incorrect profile will waste ink.. or wash out your image (great quality).

Sure its small changes but if you calculate how much printing you do you could save thousands over a one year period. If you are printing for a business profile your equipment properly.

The rest of us are enjoying taking your business.

 

i can't tell from guru's reply whether he or she is advocating using ICC profiles or not.

 

does anyone have any recommendations about applying ICC profiles when exporting to PDF? i.e. to get best results do you need to get a professional in?

 

Sorry should have been clearer
To get the optimal result custom profile your device this will save you money and give you the best quality.
I profile all my devices to every substrate.

To answer the question of pdf Like I said custom profiles will give the best result. If you only doing small amounts of printing or printing is not your core business then use the PDF/X option this gives a fairly nice result on most devices.

 

would be interested in hearing birdz's reasons for why custom profiles are a waste of time and money.